Ukraine Conflict and Climate Change Harmful to Chickpea Production – Growth Because of It?

Essay by Eric Worrall

What do vegetarians do when their dishes don’t work? Bad weather and the obvious disruption of Russian exports have turned this into a climate change story.

Possible hummus shortage due to climate change causes global supply of chickpeas to drop by 20%

Via Maeve Campbell with Reuters • Updated: 07/07/2022

The global supply of chickpeas is expected to drop 20% this year, which means hummus may be harder to reach in supermarkets.

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Farmers in America – no. 4 pea exporters – have planted fewer peas this year as bad weather has affected spring planting and they prioritized more lucrative crops such as wheat and corn, data government data shows.

Meanwhile, top buyers from South Asia and the Mediterranean are scrambling to buy up dwindling US stocks as supplies shrink worldwide and as the battle between Russia and Ukraine – both producers of chickpeas – exacerbating disruptions to global supply chains.

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Navneet Singh Chhabra, director of Shree Sheela International, a global pea brokerage and trading company, added that Ukraine could not sow the entire green bean crop due to the war.

Sanctions aimed at cutting Russia’s access to the global financial system have also hindered purchases of agricultural products by the country, he said, as some buyers seek to avoid these restrictions. trouble in payment. As the top exporter of chickpeas, Russia typically accounts for about 25% of global trade, he said.

“Russia is exporting a minimum of about 200,000 to 250,000 tons per year. When the fighting started in February, the supply was completely destroyed,” he said.

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Read more: https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/07/07/hummus-shortages-liability-as-climate-change-causes-20-drop-in-global-chickpea-supplies

I suspect disruptions to 30% of the world’s supply, often coming from Russia and Ukraine, may be a slightly more important factor in this shortfall than climate change. U.S. growers favor other crops because the price of chickpeas is so low. That could change if prices spike this year due to shortages.

Fortunately, dried chickpeas can at least be preserved for a long time, so if you like mix your own hummusAn easy and totally delicious alternative to store-bought hummus, now might be a good time to buy some supplies.